Artist: Band: Music of the Ottoman EmpireAlbum: Turkish Classical MusicCD Review:
Flawless performances dot this 10 track, 57 minute cd of classical Turkish music. One of the reasons for its spiritual brightness is the fact that the producer, Erkan Dedeoglu, also plays kanun on this disc. The kanun is a plucked box zither from the Middle East.

Also, the works involved were composed by the best of Turkey’s last 2 centuries. From Haci Arif Bey to Sadi Isilay, these adroit composers are finally given their due to the World Music at large, via the ARC label, which produces some of the finest culture-shock music I’ve ever heard.

All tracks are thoroughly steeped in the mystique of a bygone age, when music Meant something more than mere background noise for typing. The tambur (long necked lute), kemence (short necked fiddle) and ney (rim blown reed flute) give an authenticity to the proceedings that explains the passion of the sounds much better than I can. Grab a copy and be startled.